The occasion was the 125th anniversary of the Indian National Congress. Sonia Gandhi and her party quite distinctively distanced themselves from P V Narasimha Rao denying the former Congress Prime Minister any credit for the economic reforms.

Gandhi was speaking at a function where she and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh laid the foundation of the Indira Gandhi Bhavan, which will be the new headquarters of the AICC, at Kotla Road. This is lamentable.

It is worthwhile to remember here that it took a major crisis for the economic reforms to happen. During Rajiv Gandhi’s tenure external debts of the Government had been increasing.

He was assassinated in 1991 when the Congress Party was still preparing for the elections. Some credit can be taken by the Rajiv Gandhi government which gave special emphasis to the electronics and telecommunications industries. Rao appointed as his finance minister Dr Manmohan Singh and spearheaded the reforms of the 90s.